Question : WinXP  *extremely* slow to launch programs

strangly boot time has never been faster. but after about 1 minute after boot, the problem starts.  at first, I thought the computer was locking up but I eventually realized it was slow load times.  example: I try to open AOL IM, and I watch task manager for the memory usage of AIM as its' loading. I can watch it load about more ot less 20K/minute of this ( or any) application. It takes about 15-30 minutes to load it.  When I reboot in safe mode, there is no slowness at all.  I did an XP repair install and it worked fine the first session, and then I rebooted and it started again. after about 1 1/2 hours into this session it suddenly cleared up.  Feeling confident, I went on install SP2 and reboot and the problem started again and did not recover after 1 1/2 hours like in the last session.  
    Over the previous week to the problem, before this started, my computer suddenly freezed up, about 4 times.  I thought there was too much heat in the case, so I got it better ventilated and it stopped.  Also the primary master started making some unusual clicking at the start of boot-up, but I rule this out since disk access is fast during bootup and in safe mode.  
   Although programs like IE take 1/2 hour or so to load, once they're loaded, they operate fine, with no slowdown.  
   The problem first started while I was in the middle of burning an audio CD.
    Could this be a HD problem?

I'm going to mark this as Urgent because I work from home twice a week due to extremely long commute. That day it cleared up on it's own after 1 1/2 hours was just in time to start working and was lucky for me..

Answer : WinXP  *extremely* slow to launch programs

Hello daveteq =)

Two basick things first......
goto Start>Run>msconfig>startup
and untick all applications excpet ur firewall and antivrus entries

then in Services section, click on Hide Microsoft services
now check if any unusual\unknown service is listed here
if YES then untick it also

restart and now check if any progress or not ??
and Im sure u have already cleaned up ur system from spwyares\trojans stuff, right :)